


Micah & Strong

by Nebulad



Series: Highfalutin Supermutant [1]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 21:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6769849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nebulad/pseuds/Nebulad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The biggest difference had to be the mutant, and he kept it as his starting point for all her bizarre habits. Strong was his name, and for the first few days of their acquaintance he was never far from her. The strangest part was how comfortable she seemed around him, like he was one of her team of carefully chosen girlfriends from way back when. She would lean over and whisper to him with that charming smile and sometimes he would even laugh at what she said. They shared food like it was nothing and anyone who even looked at the mutie sideways got glared down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Micah & Strong

Nick’s new partner was an enigma if nothing else, and while he usually liked the puzzle, he didn’t even know where to begin on this one. Micah Carras was one of those Pre-War society girls, and some memories all cracked and partial like burnt up film informed him that she’d been well-liked and mostly well-behaved. Human Nick remembered seeing her in the papers— she had rich parents and married a rich young officer from the army. The newshawks had eaten it right up, a pretty gal like her marrying a big brave soldier who’d been on the front lines before a bullet had condemned him to deskwork.

She still looked a foot from the party, with her black hair pulled up and tied meticulously behind a folded up handkerchief and her face clean and severe even without the makeup she was used to. The only visible difference was the dirty, bloody Vault Suit she hadn’t been able to switch out for proper clothes yet, and the gun on her hip. It was a measly 10mm, but when he suggested an upgrade she became defensive again.

The biggest difference had to be the mutant, and he kept it as his starting point for all her bizarre habits. Strong was his name, and for the first few days of their acquaintance he was never far from her. The strangest part was how _comfortable_ she seemed around him, like he was one of her team of carefully chosen girlfriends from way back when. She would lean over and whisper to him with that charming smile and sometimes he would even laugh at what she said. They shared food like it was nothing and anyone who even looked at the mutie sideways got glared down.

When Strong left for a settlement up north, she was… despondent. She pushed food around her plate, she stared at nothing, and she was a bit too jumpy for a gal with a gun on her hip— and far too ready to use it. He left it alone, though, figuring that it was her business and she could walk out and go grab the supermutant again if she felt like it.

It wasn’t until she was drinking out of his mug of coffee that he finally asked her what was bothering her. She set the cup down quickly, seeming more embarrassed than he expected her to be. He wasn’t mad, really, just curious— there was something off about this one, and it wasn’t just the thick coat of dirt over her old society self.

It took her a second to get started and she mulled over what to say for a little while before deciding. “Mr. Valentine, did you know that supermutants are communists?” She sat down on Ellie’s desk, the secretary having turned in for the evening.

“I can’t say that I did,” he admitted.

“They share everything— stronger warriors are bred that way. The problem with communism isn’t inherent, it’s with humans. We can’t do it because we have the concept of dependants and corruption that most of them can’t even _picture_.” He thought that was a lot of theory out of the mouth of a girl meant to take pictures of, then felt like an ass for it. He didn’t know anything about her past old newspapers he’d never personally seen, and she was getting around to sharing something if he could settle down and let her.

“Never took supermutants for the sharing type.”

“Not with us— well Strong shares with me, but not other humans. Everything a mutant group has is communal, though. I’ve been asking around about where they came from since Strong didn’t seem to know. I figured them for human, but the rest was… difficult. Couldn’t piece together how one human could become a ghoul, one a feral, and another a supermutant. I’d thought it was something to do with the amount of radiation exposure, but finally I had a chat with Professor Scara over at the Science! Centre and she seemed to know a whole bunch,” Micah explained. It was some interesting detective work.

“If I remember right it’s got to do with the FEV virus. They dip ‘em in or something.” That was _his_ little tidbit, from a few months spent among some rudimentary scientists. They were usually just as good as finding mechanics, and he sometimes learned some things in the process. Frankly he was happier to find someone who could teach him how to minimize pressure on the screws in his off-hand, but hearing about supermutants (instead of fighting them off) wasn’t the worse way to pass an afternoon.

“Yeah, and there was this Master… well, they have a pretty long history even if most of them don’t know beans about it. It’s what makes me different from them— sometimes I just have to know,” she said, pausing for a moment. He wasn’t sure if she was planning the transition into her point, or just being dramatic. “It made me stick out, but as long as you can shoot straight most of them don’t care.”

“You know more than just Strong?” he asked.

“A few. Most shoot on sight whether or not I’ve got him with me— it doesn’t matter to them. If you can’t kill them then you aren’t worth keeping alive.” He wondered if that made some sort of sense to her— it seemed to, but it was eluding him. “It’s just how it works. It’s why me and Strong work together so well; he could kill me point blank and I could kill him right back.”

“Is there some logic I’m missing?” he asked, and she beamed.

“Not a whit, Mr. Valentine. Once you figure that out, you’ve unlocked the big supermutant secret. Kill or be killed, logic be damned. Stalemates are the only way to make nice, and they’re _real_ slow to come to those,” she said nostalgically. “Usually it’s just me and Strong, but occasionally we found a few that were either curious about the human or beat a few up bad enough that they decided to let us live.”

“Couldn’t you have killed them?”

“Could have, but didn’t. I’ve seen more supermutants than I have people since tear-assing my way out of that vault. I know its silly and Strong’d be the first to tell me so, but I miss him. He’s a better friend than I expected to find and I’m used to having him near me. It’s the same with my silly get-up here… a part of me knows I should upgrade, but I’ve seen a lot with the old blue jumpsuit.” She looked down at herself as if to make sure the thing was zipped up and secure on her person, then back at him. “I hope you’ll forgive my rusty manners.”

She still had that smile, the newspaper front splash that flickered in Nick’s memory. Human Nick had never approved of high society in the middle of a war where people were hard up for basic amenities; Synth Nick was just a bit more curious about how she’d integrated herself with _one_ mutant, let alone a few more. There was a lot about her that wasn’t clicking quite right, but she seemed to have a detective’s soul under the surprisingly civil mutie manners. She was curious and insatiable for answers even if it did make her a target. It’d make her a good partner, so long as she didn’t have any of the bloodlust that usually came with the big uglies.

“All silk so far, though maybe I’ll gift you your own mug,” he said, tilting his a little. She laughed.

“Careful. Once you start giving me things I’ll never leave,” she warned. Well, Nick Valentine had never given up on a case _that_ easy in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> I had the fucking dumbest name planned for this fic you don't even know. But, first step into writing for Nick and Micah and admittedly this isn't MAD fluffy it's just kind of. Absently flirtatious. Mostly about Micah but she's an important kind of person and the supermutant companion never lets me down. Micah is mostly study in a sole that's friends with Strong and probably X6 but without being the sort of character one would assume. Like she doesn't take the cannibal perk because jesus she isn't gunna be a cannibal. She isn't gunna murder settlers or any of that shit. She's just charming and kind of straightforward and can juggle unconventional companions on the far side of our mostly chaotic or neutral good spectrum of friends, at the same time that she can charm Robocop.


End file.
